The Omro High School band is traveling to Hawaii to play in a ceremony commemorating the 77th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and will perform at the site Friday in the 2018 Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade.

Thirty-eight students comprise the only high school band outside of Hawaii to march in the parade. The band will also act as ambassadors for the USS Wisconsin, a naval ship named in honor of the state, at the parade.

Their repertoire includes “This Land is Your Land,” “American Folk Rhapsody,” “On Wisconsin” and “God Bless the U.S.A.” All bands attending the ceremony will perform “God Bless America” together, said Wendy Fisher, band director for Omro schools.

Event organizers expect 500,000 people to attend. Jonathan Binder, a junior at Omro who plays trumpet in the band, said he is thrilled like the rest of the band students for the opportunity.

As a freshmen at Omro, Sophie Pavelka plays the piccolo and is excited to have this opportunity so early in her high school band career.

The students will not be wearing their full marching band uniforms for the parade, but will instead wear T-shirts, since the atmosphere in Hawaii is casual, Fisher said

The community pitched in with generous donations Fisher said. The band will also get time to escape the Wisconsin winter by touring Hawaii and will have extra spending money for meals and activities on the trip since so many people donated, she said.

A lot of the donations have come from people who are proud of the band, Binder said.

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade Committee noticed the band when it performed at a 2017 Veterans Day event in Washington and invited the students to Pearl Harbor.